Reality's Escape: a collection of short stories

Part 2

My contribution for the same Reedsy prompt— read on!

Gwen freezes— or rather, Winter does. She's on mission mode now. The knife's tip is sharp against her back, and she wonders if it has pierced her suit. Is that blood running down her back or just more rain? She is trained for reconnaissance and face to face combat, but this? Where is her team? She can't hear them. She opens her mouth, but a watery shadow appears in front of her. It raises a finger to its lips, then disappears.

Wing yells. The knife in Winter's back retracts, and she swivels around. Wing is tumbling around on the ground with a figure robed in black. Winter freezes the rain around them and makes it a growing block of ice, pressing them into the ground below. She hears a yell, but pushes harder. She won't break Wing— he can stand anything— but she could break their assailant. Then rain comes down harder, drenching her, and she tries to freeze it all, but the rain is coming too fast. It melts. The assailant stands up after Wing does, and suddenly they are both floating.

Winter looks to her left. There is Lunar, her little brother who wasn't supposed to be here but now she is super glad he did. His face is pinched in concentration— he must still be tired from the fall— but he has decreased the gravity beneath their attacker. He floats helplessly while Wing zips around him.

"Who are you? Why did you attack us?"

The person doesn't make any noise. Then a bolt of lightning strikes above. Everything is crystal clear for one amazing millisecond, then plunges back into darkness. Lunar groans as their eyes adjust. "I lost him!"

Illusion morphs into a jaguar and dashes in circles around them, widening her circumference each time. She comes back and changes into herself, breathless. "He's not there."

Quinn frowns. "He's got to be somewhere. Check the trees."

Winter stands there, feeling rather useless, and makes the rain around her freeze into snowflakes so it stops running down her hair and into her clothes. Lunar nudges her shoulder. "Aren't you glad I came along?"

She ruffles his blond hair, trying to make it stand on end, but it just falls down perfectly again. She rolls her eyes.

They regroup in a few minutes, with no sign of anyone nearby. The rain is still pouring, and Winter makes a thin dome over them, supplying it with just enough energy to stay frozen. She looks around at her friends— her teammates. Leo, her brother, also known as Lunar, who can tamper with gravity. Alyssa, or Illusion, who can make people think they are seeing things. Simeon's mission name was Wing, self explanatory: he can fly. Quinn is basically super smart, and everyone is convinced that he can read people's minds, although he doesn't admit it. He speaks first.

"Okay, so Noah and Violet went down with the other end of the plane—"

"Don't you mean Tempest and Rainbow? We're on a mission, remember?"

"Alyssa—"

"Illusion—"

"I don't care. If the enemy wants to know our names, he'll learn them no matter how many aliases we use. Maybe if I'm the only one who doesn't use them, he'll get confused. Either way, let's get on with this."

"I say we need to find the person that attacked us."

"Yes, Simeon, that would be beneficial; one problem. He's long gone. Our mission was to find the lightning villain, but we were attacked by someone who might be him. That means he knew we were heading this way. She will definitely need protection, but Noah and Violet could be in trouble too."

Simeon rolls his eyes. "Are you finished?"

"Yes, now I am waiting for suggestions."

"Well, since you have your mind made up, out with it."